McGinn eyes 'astronomical achievement'
Former Aston Villa striker Peter Crouch talking to TNT Sports: "Unai Emery has done an incredible job. He mentioned that they're a club in a process, but they look like a team that's really well coached.
"If they do get Champions League football, the level goes up a little bit more and the players can take on the experiences that they've had in this campaign."
On Friday, UK papers carry news of Villa's Europa Conference League exit on their back pages. The iPaper calls the Olympiakos defeat a "Greek tragedy" while the Express says Unai Emery's team were "flat".
And Villa captain John McGinn reflected on defeat in the context of a successful season overall: "It won't take it away, but tonight our instant reaction is to be gutted. We all wanted to be back here [in Greece] playing the final but Olympiakos gave it everything, played out of their skin in both legs and overall the scoreline proves that they were the better team.
"We'll reflect, there's a lot of things we could have done better, but over the course of the season there's a lot of things to be proud of.
"We need to apologise to the supporters who travelled. We so badly wanted to win a trophy for them, we all wanted it so badly. We need a big push in the final two games to get us over the line for the Champions League which would be an astronomical achievement.
"Tonight the feeling is that it's an opportunity missed but congratulations to Olympiakos and we wish them all the best in the final."
